Toy
by Anria
Summary: Yohji sets Ran up on a date. Schuldig is not amused.


Well, I have _finally_ completed the shorter of the two counter fics I have left outstanding. The other one is as long as this and barely a quarter of the way through. . Many thankies to Min for betaing!   
  
**Warnings**: very light lime, not angsty but not happy either  
**Pairings**: OFCRan, Schuldig/Ran  
**Notes**: for Jade as visitor #10,000 to The Temple of Lunacy.   
  


**Toy  
by Anria**

One of Schuldig's favourite pastimes was Ran-watching.  
  
Well, that wasn't strictly accurate, he mused as he stared down on the flowershop from his vantage on top of the building across the street. Just Ran-watching was probably one of the most boring things he could do. On the surface, the man seemed to have absolutely no personality whatsoever and it reflected in his common daily activities. He worked. He read. He sharpened his katana. Actually, he did that last one the most frequently, Schuldig reflected. If he kept it up, he'd wear the blade down to a toothpick.  
  
But there were three very good reasons that meant one of Schuldig's favourite pastimes was Ran-watching.  
  
The first (and most obvious) one was his thoughts. They were so much _at odds_ with the person he displayed to the outside world - most people Schuldig had to push quite hard, several times, to get where Ran seemed to stay permanently. He supposed it was twisted of him to enjoy someone else's depression quite this much, but it was so much _fun_. Ran tasted so good.  
  
In more ways than one.  
  
Schuldig swung off the roof of the Koneko, using the fire escape as a hand-hold while he slid through Ran's bedroom window. The redhead was already inside, his back to Schuldig and the open window.  
  
_Careless, Ran-chan,_ Schuldig chided, keeping the thought to himself. _Far too careless for a trained assassin. Unless you were expecting someone. . . ?_  
  
For a moment, the German simply crouched on the window sill, watching Ran. He was reading, his bent over the book with his impossibly bright hair lying softly against his neck. The contrast of porcelain-pale skin and blood-red hair captured Schuldig's attention, fixing his gaze. He wanted to lick the hair, see if it tasted like blood as well as looked like it, suck on the smooth, pale skin until he left a mark.  
  
So he did.  
  
Crossing the room in the blink of an eye, he knelt on the bed behind Ran and wrapped him in his arms, pressing his lips into the line where hair met skin. Ran tensed against him but didn't pull away, so he bit the skin gently, mouthing and sucking on the flesh in his mouth. Closing his eyes, he hummed gently. Tasting the other man this way was almost as good as tasting the confusion and anger running through his mind – but of course, he could do both. . . .  
  
Without warning, he found himself on his back on the bed with Ran pointing his lovely, shiny, and above all _sharp_ katana at him.  
  
That was the second reason Ran-watching was fun. Most people changed moods gradually, but not him – one touch of the button, and you had a whole different Ran.  
  
"Is that any way to greet a person?" Schuldig asked him, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. Ran was in one of his 'grumpy' moods, if the glare was any indicator – so, like every other time Ran got in one of his grumpy moods, Schuldig resolved to be as obnoxiously irritating as possible.  
  
Not that that was much different from normal. But it was the thought that counted.  
  
"Do you never get tired of tormenting me?" Ran growled at him.  
  
And what a bloody stupid question that was. "Hmm, let me think." Schuldig made a show of pondering it, removing one hand from behind his head to rub thoughtfully at his chin. "No."  
  
Ran scowled blackly at him. "Get out." _Stay here._  
  
And there you had the third reason. He just _loved_ it when Ran's thoughts started contradicting what came out of his mouth – it was the perfect opportunity to confuse the hell out of him.  
  
"Thank you, don't mind if I do." Schuldig smiled prettily up at him, enjoying the irritated look in Ran's eyes.  
  
He knew he'd made a mistake an instant later as Ran's impressive mental barriers slammed down over his thoughts. He wasn't even certain the man knew he had them, since they came down whenever he got in a mood like this – whether Schuldig was the cause of it or not. But they did the job, unfortunately. He was thrown out of Ran's mind, the doors shut and barred behind him.  
  
"How rude," Schuldig sniffed.  
  
The shields didn't slip, although confusion showed on Ran's face for a split second. Then he snapped back into focus, and glowered at Schuldig down the length of the sword. "Get out."  
  
Schuldig sat up, grinning. He deliberately pressed forward into the tip of the katana, slowly moving to his feet. The surface of Ran's mind was tinged with wariness, but he didn't move the blade to cut the taller man. Schuldig pushed harder against it, once, just to prove his point, and then was out of the window and halfway down the street before Ran could blink.   
  


**oOo**

  
Omi had started it.  
  
For some reason Ran couldn't quite get to grips with, Omi had decided that since he acted as antisocial as possible – making his wish to be alone as clear as he could – it meant that the rest of Weiss just wasn't trying hard enough.  
  
After all, no sane person could _ever_ prefer his own company to the _sparkling_ conversation of a man whose was obsessed with football, a man whose idea of intellectualism was the number of pick-up lines he had memorised, and a boy who was, quite frankly, creepy. Although to be fair to Omi, the only reason he was creepy was if, when watching him cram for a test, you knew that half an hour beforehand he'd been killing people.  
  
Ran couldn't help but worry a little over Omi, no matter how hard he tried not to – assassins should just _not_ be that happy. Omi seemed to miss the point entirely: happy, well-adjusted people were not well-paid assassins. Assassins had no right to be happy. They killed people for a living, how were they supposed to sleep well at night?  
  
But anyway, getting back to the point – for some obscure reason, Omi had decided that one day every week was allotted as 'Cheer Up Aya Day'. Ran knew that this was the official name Omi had given it, because he'd seen the roster sheet.  
  
Cheer Up Aya Day consisted of one of his co-workers grabbing Ran at some point during the day and forcing a minimum of two hours of their company on him, doing an activity they thought would cheer him up. Ken invariably chose to do something about football – once involving the team of kids he coached, but had decided against doing that again when Ran had managed to successfully convince the lot of them that he was a demon out for their blood – hey, it wasn't like he did it on purpose.  
  
Ken was quite easy to get rid of, however, since football absorbed him to the extent that he didn't notice the tall redhead sneaking away from him. Omi, on the other hand, was almost impossible to ditch; but thankfully most of his ideas came along the lines of trips to museums or libraries, which Ran could actually stand and occasionally enjoyed.  
  
And then there was Yohji.  
  
The two things Yohji loved most in the world were alcohol and women. Omi had banned him from including the former in any of his turns at Cheer Up Aya Day after the incident with the hooker, peanut butter, and blender. (The less said about that the better.)  
  
Which meant that Yohji was just left with women.  
  
It was for that reason that Ran had come to dread Yohji's turn at Cheer Up Aya Day more than any of the others. He did _not_ relish being paired up with whatever floozy the taller man had met the previous night at the bar – but it wasn't like he had a choice. Every time he mentioned avoiding the activities the others had planned for him that day, Omi turned on the waterworks. Ran never knew how to deal with tears, which meant it worked every time.  
  
Sighing, Ran glowered at himself in the mirror. Every time he got manipulated into agreeing to this he swore it would never happen again. And every time he swore that, he broke his promise.  
  
He had made an effort, however. Yohji might just be setting him up with whatever tart he'd already had/didn't want, but he'd never hear the end of it if he just wore his usual orange jumper. It had taken a lot of digging around, but he'd finally managed to drag a dark purple silk shirt from the back of his wardrobe, and wore it over a pair of neat black jeans. The material felt unfamiliar against his skin, but contrasted nicely with his pale complexion and red hair.  
  
It had appeared on a hanger in his wardrobe after one of Schuldig's visits. Ran had decided not to ask him why.  
  
"Oi, Aya!" Yohji called up the stairs, breaking him out of his reverie. "Your date is here!"  
  
Ran shut his eyes. He wasn't looking forward to another night of dealing with Yohji's idea of a good time. Finally, he sighed and opened his eyes, then headed for the stairs.  
  
"Finally done primping?" Yohji teased as Ran approached, looking him up and down. "Nice shirt. This is Kei," Yohji continued, ushering forward a young woman with dark hair and large green eyes. "Kei, Aya, Aya, Kei. Kei is a student at the University of Tokyo, studying Western ancient history. Aya is one of our charming resident florists. Don't let his attitude get you down, we're still searching for his personality," the blond man added, grinning at Kei.  
  
Kei giggled, a little nervously. "Pleased to meet you," she said, smiling and bowing to Ran. "Yohji-san likes to tease, doesn't he?"  
  
"Yes, he does," Ran agreed, shooting Yohji a warning glare as he returned the bow. The compliment he'd been given on the shirt made him uneasy – what if Yohji asked where he'd got it from? What would he say? A friend gave it to me? Yohji liked to tease, but sometimes his teasing was unnervingly sharp.  
  
Unaware of Ran's train of thought, Yohji laughed and made shooing motions towards the door. "You kids have a good time now," he called after them.  
  
Ran ignored him, hurrying out of the Koneko. Kei followed him.  
  
Pausing outside the store, Ran tried to recall the flood of information Yohji had hammered him with about an hour before Kei was due to arrive. He had mentioned that she liked classical dance, beaches, and traditional Japanese cuisine over the more popular Western restaurants.  
  
The first two were useless. The last had potential.  
  
Ran turned to Kei as she stepped up next to him. "My car is this way," he said, gesturing, and moved off before she had a chance to respond. "Yohji told me you like traditional food. Do you have a favourite restaurant you would like to eat in?"  
  
Kei shrugged, smiling at him as they stopped beside his car. "I don't mind," she said. "Where would you like to eat?"  
  
Ran nodded, unlocking the Porsche and slipping into the driver's seat. "I know a good restaurant that's not far from here," he told her when they were both inside the car. "The staff are very nice, and the food is excellent. I'll take you there."  
  
Putting the car in gear, Ran braced himself for the beginning of another night of torture.   
  


**oOo**

  
He was more than mildly surprised.  
  
Kei turned out to be as far from what he'd expected from Yohji as a diamond was from a mud pit. On arrival at the restaurant, she had turned to him with a smile and said this was one of her favourite places to eat, too. The waiters knew both of them and were delighted to see that "our dear Kei" had finally met a man with "manners and good taste". Ran wasn't entirely sure how to respond to their praise, and a quick look at Kei showed that she had turned bright pink. Glancing towards him, she gave him a commiserating smile that had his own lips twitching before he thought about it.  
  
Kei was intelligent, pretty, and quick-witted, if a little shy. She got over that shyness quickly enough, though, when Ran asked her about her studies at the university. He actually found himself genuinely interested in her descriptions of life in ancient Greece, and able to draw on some of the foreign classics he'd read to contribute to their discussion.  
  
Kei told him her name had given her a lot of embarrassment growing up, as her mother was from Germany – where Kei was a girl's name – and had wanted to name her after her grandmother, but in Japan it was a boy's name. Ran felt a pang when she laughed and said he must have felt the same way, being called Aya, but strangely the mention of his sister didn't cause as much pain as it usually did. He thought it might have had something to do with the way she tilted her head and smiled at him, much like Aya-chan used to do.  
  
Once their meal was over and paid for, Ran found himself trying to prolong the evening as much as possible. He asked Kei if she would like to take a walk to let their food settle in their stomachs before heading back, and she said loved to take walks in the dark, but didn't dare usually because of the danger. Then she smiled at him, and for a heartbeat Ran felt the contentment he'd only had when his sister was still awake.  
  
Their walk didn't last long as it was cold and neither of them had a coat. Kei gave him directions to the small student apartment she was staying in, and just before she was about to get out of the car Ran found himself opening his mouth and asking her if she was free next Tuesday evening.  
  
She smiled, and said yes.   
  


**oOo**

  
Schuldig frowned.  
  
He'd felt Ran pull up at the Koneko, a strange sort of . . . peace, almost, threading through the other man's mind. Ran had enjoyed his evening out. Ran was going back out with this girl again. Ran was reminded of his sister when he was with the girl.  
  
Hmm. Well, sooner or later he was bound to dump her, or do something so insensitive the girl would dump him. Ran was particularly bad with interpersonal relationships.  
  
And if sometimes one or the other was given a subtle . . . push by a certain redheaded telepath, then all he was doing was speeding the inevitable, wasn't it?  
  
The German felt Ran nearing his room, and put the thoughts out of his mind. He'd come here with the intention of playing with his favourite toy, not pondering Ran's pitiful abilities at interaction with the rest of the human race. Schuldig settled back on top of the bed, linking his hands behind his chest and leaning back against the headboard. He grinned when he heard the key turn in the lock.  
  
Ran walked into the room, not even bothering to flick on a light. He was still radiating that strange contentment – which didn't falter even for a moment when he realised Schuldig was sitting naked in his bed. Well, _on_ his bed.  
  
"I shouldn't be surprised," Ran muttered.  
  
"You shouldn't, and you're not," Schuldig informed him, then smirked. "Welcome home, lover mine. Have a nice night out?"  
  
"I'm not your lover," Ran told him, then sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.  
  
Schuldig's smile took on a sharper edge. "You're not going to ask me what I'm doing here?" he said. The other man wasn't following the usual script of their encounters.  
  
Ran ignored him and began unbuttoning his shirt. Schuldig raised an eyebrow, realising that the Japanese man wasn't even going to try throwing him out. Indeed, he almost seemed to be _welcoming_ Schuldig's presence.  
  
"This is a change of heart," the German purred, gliding to his knees behind Ran. He slid his hands under the loosened shirt, licking the back of the man's neck as Ran finished unbuttoning his shirt. He felt the redhead's nipples harden under his fingers, and—  
  
—and Ran stood up and walked around to the other side of the bed, sliding in between the covers with his back to Schuldig. He reached up and flicked the lights off, saying, "Good night, Schuldig."  
  
And fell asleep, just like that.  
  
The German was dumbfounded.   
  


**oOo**

  
Schuldig sat on the roof of the building overlooking the Koneko, and scowled.  
  
Last night had been . . . something. He wasn't sure what the something was, or if that something had been good or bad.  
  
On the one hand, Ran had been more accepting of his presence. No katana to the throat was a good thing – not to mention that the acceptance in general felt nice. But on the other hand, Ran hadn't really reacted to his presence: before it was so easy to get a rise out of him, but now. . . .  
  
He'd fallen _asleep_. With an enemy naked in the same bed as him.  
  
It definitely had something to do with that girl, Schuldig decided. She was a bad influence on him – she calmed him down, took away some of that attractive violence.  
  
Which meant she had to go.   
  


**oOo**

  
"Have you ever considered the superficial similarities between the teams we've come across recently, and us?"  
  
Crawford 'hmm-ed' and said nothing, focusing on the screen as he typed and listening to Schuldig with half an ear.  
  
The redheaded German was sprawled out on the sofa, one arm up over his head and the other on his stomach, contemplating the ceiling. Crawford wasn't quite sure if the ceiling had anything to do with this recent revelation, but then with Schuldig you never could tell.  
  
"I mean, you've got the little cute type," Schuldig continued. "In Weiss, that's Tsukiyono, in us that's Nagi."  
  
"Nagi's hardly what you would call 'cute'," Crawford said.  
  
Schuldig waved a dismissive hand. "He's fifteen, that automatically makes him cute. Heck, even in Schereint you've got that pathetic excuse for a playboy bunny reject that Nagi was so sentimental over."  
  
Crawford's mouth quirked at the screen. "You're right, these similarities are very superficial."  
  
"They're still there," Schuldig shot back. "It's only when you start looking at _why_ they're there that they're not so superficial after all."  
  
"Or that similar."  
  
"Quit it with the interruptions. Where was I? Oh, right. You've got the playboy-ish slut type – me, Kudou, and Schoen – you've got the psychotic violent type – Farf, Neu, and Hidaka – and you've got the in-control leader type. Which would be you and Hel." Schuldig frowned and sat up.  
  
Crawford raised an eyebrow at the glaring omission, hitting the back button on a typo. "Where does Fujimiya come in, then?"  
  
"That's the thing, I don't know," Schuldig said. "I mean . . . before I would have said he's an exception to the rule, and the reason Weiss are so shit is because he's supposed to be the in-control leader type but he's actually the psychotic violent type. But now. . . ."  
  
Crawford sighed and turned in the computer chair so he was facing Schuldig. "What happened now?"  
  
Schuldig glared at him. "Don't you already know?" he said snidely.  
  
"I've made a point to avoid looking for any hints of your activities with your toys, unless I see them affect our future," the American said dryly. "It avoids me having to witness all sorts of unpleasant blunders."  
  
Schuldig snorted. "Thank you for the vote of confidence."  
  
"I never said the blunders were made by you, did I? Your assumption is very interesting." Crawford smirked at Schuldig's glower, unaffected. "Now get on with it, please. I have a report to finish."  
  
"Ran's changed," Schuldig said abruptly. "Or he's chang_ing_. And it's all that girl's fault."  
  
Crawford raised an eyebrow. "Girl?"  
  
"Some tart called Kei," the redhead groaned, falling backwards. "I decided to warn her off Ran earlier on, and she had the gall to tell me that if Ran wanted to date her, he'd ask her, and if Ran wanted to date me, he'd ask me."  
  
Crawford smothered his grin. It seemed that Schuldig was more than a little nonplussed by this, which was perhaps the reason the girl was still alive.  
  
The implications, however. . . . He might have to start paying attention to Ran from now on. It had seemed a little odd that Schuldig had been focussed on him to the exclusion of all his other toys for so long, but it hadn't worried him before – Schuldig always got bored eventually. But now. . . . This was starting to have the potential for danger.  
  
"Have you considered what she meant by that?" the American asked obliquely, his report forgotten.  
  
Schuldig snorted. "She's a fucking delusional bitch."  
  
"That's not what I asked."  
  
The younger man heaved a disgusted sigh. "Right, fine, she was thinking that I was acting like a jealous man and the only reason would be if I liked Ran."  
  
"That's still not what I asked."  
  
"The fuck?" Schuldig lifted his head and stared incredulously at Crawford. "Yes it was."  
  
Crawford leaned backwards, lacing his fingers together over his stomach. "I asked if you had _considered_ what she meant by that."  
  
"Same difference, you anal bastard."  
  
"You're avoiding the question. You know exactly what I mean."  
  
Schuldig was on his feet in a flash and walking towards the door. "I'm going out. Don't wait up."  
  
Crawford waited until he heard the front door slam, before taking a look at Schuldig's near future.  
  
He allowed himself a relieved sigh as he turned back to his report.   
  


**oOo**

  
"Oi, Aya!" Ken yelled from the front of the store. "Guess who's here?"  
  
"I don't play guessing games, Ken," Ran said as he emerged from the back room of the shop, wiping his hands on his apron. He blinked as he registered who was standing next to Ken. "Kei?"  
  
Kei was blushing a little, but smiling. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I—"  
  
"—just couldn't wait until Tuesday, eh?" Yohji interrupted, popping up from seemingly nowhere and slinging an arm around Kei's shoulders, winking. "We heard all about your date last night."  
  
"He's just teasing," Omi called from behind the counter. "Aya-kun wouldn't tell us anything."  
  
"He would if you'd let me talk it out of him," Yohji said, waving a hand dismissively. "Now Kei-chan has arrived to brighten up the dull, dull life of our resident misanthrope, how about the two of you go out for the afternoon? No," he said, holding up a hand to forestall the argument he knew was coming, "I insist. Besides, we can hardly throw Kei-chan out into the street just because the fangirls are coming, can we. . . ?"  
  
The not-so-subtle hint made Ran pale at the thought of what would happen if those girls arrived and Kei was still here. "You're taking my shift this afternoon," he told Yohji bluntly.  
  
The grin vanished from the blond man's face. "But _Aya_," he whined. "I've arranged to go meet Saeko this afternoon! You remember Saeko, right? Long blonde hair, longer legs, pale skin. . . ." Yohji abruptly realised he still had his arm around Kei, and gave her a grin. "Not that brunettes aren't still my favourite, of course."  
  
"You were the one encouraging me to ditch my shift," Ran said, unmoved. "We need at least three people on every afternoon, you know that."  
  
"The things I do for true love," Yohji said, sighing dramatically and taking his apron from a grinning Ken's hand. "You kids have fun!" he yelled after them as they left the shop.  
  
The sun was shining brightly outside, making Ran squint. The heat was already beginning to make him sweat, and he'd forgone his usual sweater today. Turning to Kei, he asked, "Would you like some ice cream?"  
  
"In this heat, what else would I want?" she laughed, falling into step beside him.  
  
They walked in silence for a while, Ran guiding them to a nearby park and the ice cream vendor outside it. Once they had their cones, they entered the cool shelter of the trees, wandering aimlessly.  
  
"I'm very sorry for Yohji," Ran told her, breaking the silence. "He has no manners."  
  
Kei shrugged one shoulder, tilting her head up to look at him. "I'm used to him," she said. "After all, he was the one who introduced me to you." Abruptly, she sighed and stopped on the path. "Aya-san, I have a confession to make," she said. "I didn't come to the Koneko on a casual visit."  
  
"Oh?" Ran asked neutrally.  
  
Kei fiddled with her cone for a moment, licking it absently, before blurting, "Aya-san, are you gay?"  
  
Ran started. "I . . . what makes you say that?"  
  
"I had a visit earlier on from a man who said I should stay away from you," she said. "He . . . seemed jealous."  
  
He stared. "Jealous?"  
  
"He was a foreigner," Kei told him. "He just came up to me in the street and said 'Take it from me, you don't want to get involved with Fujimiya. You don't know anything about him.'"  
  
Ran sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Was he tall and foreign, with red hair?"  
  
"More orange than red, but yes," she said.  
  
Schuldig was dead meat. "Did he say anything else to you?"  
  
"No . . . although he was being quite threatening. And I think he muttered something about sisters."  
  
At least Kei didn't appear to be harmed. "I'm sorry about this," he said.  
  
"So you are gay, then," Kei said sadly.  
  
"That's not the reason I'm sorry," Ran said. "If you see him again, keep away from him. He's dangerous."  
  
Now Kei was staring at him, wide-eyed. "Dangerous?" she said. "He looked aggressive, but I wouldn't put him down as dangerous."  
  
"That's part of the reason why he is," Ran told her.  
  
"Is he possessive of you?"  
  
"We're not together," Ran said in exasperation.  
  
"How am I supposed to know? You never answered my question."  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"About you being gay."  
  
"Whether or not I'm gay has nothing to do with whether or not I'm with someone."  
  
"Can't you just be honest with me? Are you or aren't you?"  
  
"Kei—" Ran broke off. "Can we not talk about this?"  
  
Kei glared at him. "Fine," she bit off, "I'll just go ask one of your friends."  
  
"They don't know."  
  
"So you _are_ gay."  
  
"Kei—"  
  
"What is so difficult about telling me the truth?" Kei exploded, throwing her hands in the air.  
  
Ran rubbed his eyes, realising that dodging around the issue was only serving to confirm it – and to piss Kei off. If he wasn't gay, he'd give a blunt denial, after all.  
  
But. . . .  
  
The situation with Schuldig was . . . complicated.  
  
The taller man had just waltzed into his life one day, set the bomb that killed his parents, and not left him alone since. Ran had no idea _why_ Schuldig had chosen him, whether there was any real emotion behind it or not, and had no idea what it implied for his own sexual preferences. Schuldig had picked _him_, not the other way around – and before him, Ran had been too caught up in his sister and his schoolwork to think about dating.  
  
What all that meant was that before this moment, Ran had never considered whether he was gay or not.  
  
The way Schuldig touched him caused him pleasure, but manual stimulation was the same no matter which gender gave it to you. So the answer lay in whether or not he was . . . attracted . . . to Schuldig.  
  
It was surprisingly – and damningly – easy to admit.  
  
Ran clenched his jaw, and gestured wordlessly to a nearby bench. Kei took his hint and sat down, and he slid onto the seat next to her.  
  
If Ran was going to be perfectly honest with her, he would have to admit that he was gay. But that would make the time they spent together look like just a cruel joke, and he honestly had enjoyed her company. Where Sakura looked almost identical to Aya-chan, Kei acted much how he thought his little sister would have grown up, which allowed him to pretend for a while.  
  
"I suppose I have an apology to make," Ran began, turning towards Kei. "I am gay. Yohji set me up with you because he doesn't know this, and I should have made it clear to you last night. I'm sorry I didn't. I enjoyed spending time with you, which was why I asked you out again."  
  
"How long were you going to lead me on for?" Kei asked quietly.  
  
"I would like to say I would not have any further, but that is unlikely. It is difficult to explain on a second date, or third, or fourth, what you should have explained on the first."  
  
They sat in silence for a time. It wasn't like the easy silence between them earlier, this one sitting on them like an itchy jacket. Ran wondered whether or not to tell her that she reminded him of his sister, and decided against it. If she didn't know that, she could at least tell herself she had been special enough to attract the attention of a gay man.  
  
"I suppose it's better to find this out now than a few weeks down the line," Kei announced, breaking Ran from his thoughts. "Although. . . ." she looked at Ran, not quite managing to hide her mischievous grin. "I've seen Yohji-san pick up men before. Maybe you could tell him you're gay and he can set you up with someone you'd prefer."  
  
Ran couldn't prevent the look of horror from spreading over his face. "He's already trying to set me up with half the population, and you want to give him free reign on the rest?"  
  
Kei burst out laughing, her happy giggle squeezing something in his chest painfully. The more time he spent with her, the more similarities he saw to Aya-chan.  
  
"I think you owe me more ice cream," Kei said, and Ran accepted her peace offering.   
  


**oOo**

  
When Ran finally returned to the Koneko the sun was setting, stretching his shadow out along the concrete balcony as he fumbled with the key to his apartment. He had spent the rest of the day with Kei, attempting to make up for the hurt his deception must have caused her, and had promised that they would do the same on Tuesday.  
  
He kicked off his shoes as he entered the apartment, sighing a little. Kei had attempted to drag out the supposed details of his relationship with Schuldig from him, and Ran had found himself hard-pressed to avoid talking about it. He could have lied, he supposed, but lies never helped – they always grew out of proportion, and there was a chance she'd ask Yohji about it. Of course, there was a chance she'd ask him about it anyway, but the less she knew the easier Ran could blow it off.  
  
Somehow he wasn't surprised when he entered the bedroom and found Schuldig waiting.  
  
"Welcome home, lover. Have a nice night out?"  
  
The choice of words was too deliberate for déjà vu. Ran closed his eyes as Schuldig undressed him, kissing his bare skin randomly, and didn't resist. It wasn't long before they were on the bed, Schuldig leaning back on his elbows as Ran rode him slowly, the hand on his cock moving to the same rhythm.  
  
"Do you love me?" Ran murmured. Before that day he would never have considered it, but Kei's words had planted a seed of doubt in his mind. Now, with the fullness of Schuldig's cock stretching him open, he needed to know the full extent of the depth to which he'd sunk.  
  
Warm arms slid around him, the altered angle making him gasp. "Yes," Schuldig whispered.  
  
Ran closed his eyes, and moved with the other man until he came.   
  


**oOo**

  
This was entirely too amusing for words.  
  
Despite the aggravation this episode with the girl had caused him, it appeared that the rewards Schuldig was reaping were more than worth it. Ran now believed that Schuldig loved him, something which the German could never have achieved on his own.  
  
And Ran being Ran, he'd decided this was just more evidence of how dirtied he was. If the epitome of vindictive evil could love him, how filthy must he be?  
  
Schuldig wondered whether it would actually be possible for him to love Ran. He'd kept this toy for almost two years now, far longer than any other he'd ever had, and still wasn't growing bored with him. If anything, Ran got more interesting – this recent escapade serving as a brilliant example. Anyone else would have taken the love of a supposedly evil person to show that they weren't all that evil after all, but no, things approaching rationality were not for his Ran.  
  
Ran seemed to pursue relationships that would bring him pain.  
  
Far be it for Schuldig to deny him that.


End file.
